Monday and the week started, or should I say never started, I met up with visiting anglers Derek and Raymond who were staying at the Grosvenor Lodge in Christchurch, I showed them a couple of swims where they could trot a float, well their trotting never happened, they got caught in an avalanche of water that descended from the sky, along with a nasty wind blowing downstream making conditions impossible, both these lads got a real soaking and spent the rest of the evening drying out all their gear.

A tour around all the car parks showed me that most of the hardened anglers could not cope with these conditions and the rain continued to lash down, but the rain was more than welcome, there was one angler who braved the conditions, and that was Kenny Parsons, he too got a soaking, but did manage to catch a chub of 5lb 3oz, and how he manage to kip in his motor with all that wet gear, I shall never know, so that was that, disaster day, a bailiffs meeting tonight, a couple of beers and home to bed, tomorrow will bring new challenges.

Tuesday and today looks promising, the weather is looking good although they have forecast some rain later, there is just a hint of colour in the river, not enough to cut out the views of the gravel runs.

So today I shall have a few hours fishing with Dave Pryor and then an evening around the telly watching the England game. Let’s start with Dave and myself, Dave had one chub of about 2.5lb and with just 5 minutes to go I had a chub of 5lb, please note from my photo that I have got really nice clean nails, sorry guys I did not mean to hold the fish like that.

Sid has done it again, he got caught up with a duck on his first cast, no fish for Sid just the duck.

Two barbel were caught on one of the stretches to unknown anglers, one was about 8lb and the other was about 9lb. Allen Paget landed 3 average size chub. We must say a big well done to local garage owner and member Karl Payne who landed his first barbel of the season, a fish of 7lb 5oz, a highly delighted Karl also landed two chub from the same swim, one of 4lb 10ozs and the biggest at 5lb 13oz.

I did meet up with another Karl, this time it was a Pete Reading look alike ( sorry Pete, its the hat and the glasses ) it was Karl Warren from Kent, he never caught anything but we had a good chat about his camera, reel and Daiwa Whisker rod, which is a great piece of kit. Check out the photo and see what you think.

Kenny Parsons was also back on the banks, I suppose it was to hang out his wet washing, but Kenny did land a couple of chub, one of 5lb 3oz and the other of a bit smaller at 4lb 14oz, we even managed to get some pictures, many thanks to Sid using Kenny’s camera.

Wednesday and our old mate Karl Warren is back on the banks, this time he has captured a chub of 5lb 14oz, well done Karl. Jim Hart from Southampton was back on the fishery and had landed a small chub of about 2lb as I arrived. New member Tim had taken a pike of about 7lb plus a bonus of lovely anglers favourite, an eel of about 2lb. Keith and Julie Horsley from Nottingham, and both Forest supporters were enjoying the day together on our fishery, Julie had captured a nice barbel of 10lb from the Royalty in July and it would have been nice if they could have beaten that, they were fishing a swim that have seen some big fish this season, up until I left, Julie had landed a chub of 3lb, whilst Keith had taken one a bit bigger at 4lb 4oz, it was nice to meet you both and good luck.

Kenny Parsons was again on the banks after having dried out all his gear, and again Kenny was catching some magical chub, but not without some problems, and again its the DUCKS, they have now decided that they prefer anglers baits, now this is not on, most of the duck weed has been washed away and they have started on us anglers, I’m sure its just to wind us up, but apart from that Kenny kept his cool and took a couple of fish in the morning, 5lb 8oz and 4lb 3oz.

The afternoon was to prove a really good session.

4.15pm...........................5lb 14oz.

4.45pm...........................6lb 7oz.

5.35pm...........................5lb 9oz.

6.25pm...........................4lb 14oz.

Well done Kenny, many thanks for your report, and thanks to Sid for being on hand to take the photo's, I bet he got cheesed off running up and down the bank every time you caught a fish, it must be nice to have your own personal servant, I wonder if he puts your bait on.

Thursday and I had a day off, I fished the compound on the Royalty with Tina and Dave Pryor, the fishing was not too good, Dave has one small barbel and an eel, myself and Tina drew a blanks, just small taps from dace and eels trying to get the bait off.

Friday and at last things are starting to happen, the river is beginning to show a bit of colour, there are just a few bits of weed coming down, this is possibly caused by the ducks and swans, but it is not enough to worry about, the weather is still very mild, but the wind is quite strong and a bit of a nuisance. There have been a few chub caught throughout the stretch; I netted one for Sid which we estimated at about 5lb. I was fishing with Rick for a few hours in the evening, I never had a bite, whilst Rick was very glad that he dropped an eel, he also blanked, but did miss a couple of bites.

Also on the banks of Throop were the THREE MUSKETEERS from Portsmouth.

They were Gavin Mallaby, Richard Clark, and Alistair Spencer, well they were all busy in the art of angling, Alistair captured a nice barbel of 7lb, Richard had five bream to 5lb, and finally Gavin had a couple of chub, one weighed in at 2lb 9oz and the other was a PB, it weighed 4lb 12oz, well done all and congrats on your PB and many thanks for your report.

Earlier in the day, our newest bailiff, who is Martin, landed a nice barbel of 13lb, well done Martin. Later on a visitor to our water landed his very first barbel, it was a stunning fish of 13lb 2oz, I will keep this lad anonymous unless he informs me different, well done mate, I bet you was dreaming about that one all night. Also on the banks was Luke who managed to catch a barbel of 8lb 7oz plus a large eel, many thanks for your report, and I wont tell anyone about the THING that dropped into the water and was swimming towards him, I don't know how big it was, perhaps it was this one, we removed it last week.

Saturday and today saw just about 10 anglers on the banks and most of them were blanking, so what is the problem? , well the day was very bright with the sun blazing down, the ducks were once again being a pain, diving down for anglers baits and wrecking any chances of fish, we do know that they will be moved off in a few weeks. The river still has a touch of colour but the weed is still coming down in small numbers, possibly due to the ducks and swans.

The report catches were at an all time low for today; Ian Davis from Surrey had some small chub on a trotted float. Brian James had two small chub, and then decided to call it a day. Rick Willson had a 4lb + chub in the first 30 minutes, and he too never had any more fish. I started fishing at 5.00 pm, I had pre-baited earlier in the day and that made no difference at all, I had just one bite at last knockings and that was it, no fish. Plenty of fish were seen moving to and fro into the weed beds but they were just not feeding.

I must take this opportunity to warn anglers of the midges and mosquitoes, they are out in force and most anglers are being bitten, so it would be a good idea to take precautions, cover up and use some anti-bite spray or cream, I wonder if this is keeping anglers of the banks, only joking.

Sunday and I did not receive any reports except, that Robin was on the banks fishing, he phoned me to say that he had not caught anything, My son Rick was also trying to catch a fish, but he too blanked, again there was plenty of fish to be seen but nothing was taking a bait, again it was a very bright sunny day. If I do get any late reports I will include them I next weeks.

Many thanks for the e-mails and the phone calls, it's great to get some reports, it makes life much easier.